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News & ArtsThursday, January 19, 2012
Tech / Books Textbooks Have Just Been Reinvented, Whether Apple Ultimately Prevails or Not
Posted by Goldy on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:05 AM
My daughter isn't unusual in that she has two homes, and apart from all the emotional baggage that comes with divorce, perhaps the most stressful part of the arrangement is the need to plan ahead for transport of her goddamn textbooks. These are big, clunky, heavy objects, that aren't needed every night for homework, but when they are, they're absolutely necessary. And they're expensive, at $75.00 or more a pop.
It seems almost stupid that in a world full of iPads and laptop computers, our children are still lugging around 25 pounds worth of textbooks each day, when their content could be just as easily—if not better—represented on an LCD screen. I've often joked with my daughter as we've lugged her books in and out of the car, that—just as she gawks at the notion that I got through all but the final year of my academic career with little more than a pencil and typewriter—her children would marvel at the technological backwardness of her youth as they browsed the entire Library of Congress on their iPad 30 or Kindle Fusion or whatever the future gadget is.
"You carried books around?" they'd question, aghast, like a drug-crazed Dr. McCoy wailing over the barbarism of 20th century surgeons.
Well, as Paul has already reported, according to Apple, that future is now, with today's introduction of iBooks 2 and their new e-book creation tool, iBooks Author. And best of all, as of today, some of the most commonly used high school textbooks are now available for download at a relatively reasonable price of $14.99 or less.
Yeah, I know, these aren't the first e-textbooks, and it wouldn't surprise me if Amazon ultimately dominates this particular e-book niche. But given Apple's track record at transforming content markets, and the steady downward pricing pressure on tablet computers, I would be surprised if e-textbooks don't become the dominant medium within a decade or so. The advantages to students, schools, and publishers should be obvious. (Well, maybe not to publishers, but if they can bring themselves to jettison their printing and distribution infrastructure and fully embrace a subscription model, things will work out well for them too.)
Downloading a best-seller onto your Kindle or iPad may be a convenience, but it's hardly a better reading experience than a physical book. But textbooks are different. Apart from the size, weight, and price advantages inherent in the e-medium, these are texts that are just screaming for the inclusion of interactive content—animations, movies, music, spoken word recordings, etc. Pretty soon the very best textbooks won't even be available in print, because the print medium simply cannot support their most compelling and useful features. Once textbook creators take full advantage of this new medium, there will be no turning back. Schools and students simply won't let them.
Whatever platform prevails, this is the future of textbooks. And future generations of students will find it hard to believe that we ever did it any other way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGwicjGAW…
I wonder how this pervasive problem will be affected when textbooks are all on the laptop/iPad. Will professors have to be saying, "NO, you cannot look at your e-textbook during class"?
I wonder how the profs of the immanent future will deal with this problem.
Then again, perhaps physically present teachers will be replaced by the Skyping-it-in variety, where students can be at home playing video games and masturbating while "in class".
I can't be the only person out there whose brain just shuts down when confronted with a single paned wall of information. Even though there will be photos in the e-textbooks and all that, it isn't the same for the part of my brain that requires tangible information sources to absorb the material.
5
As someone who teaches from and is required to participate in learning sessions from both hard copy and eBooks, I have to agree with my students. Despite all the bells and whistles of eBooks, learning online is simply more challenging (and I'm not even talking about the times when their internet is down, when the entire eBook system/program is down and how often images and other sections found in hard copy versions are frequently retracted from ebooks—although the technical factors make both teaching and learning doubly challenging).
In addition, students only get the "rights" to an ebook for three or so years, whereas for $25 more they can have the textbook for life.
Goldy: Try taking an online class alongside an on-campus class, in particular one that uses a text book. The learning experience and takeaway are profoundly different. I think you'd change your tune if you were speaking from experience.
9
But then again, you're planning on driving your daughter around at her whim for the rest of your life, so Whine On, Whiner!
11
Class should be all about the lecture; the textbook is a supplement to be read outside of class. After all, a projector can bring up an illustration or problem from book during the lecture. I'm probably missing something, but I don't see any impact on continuing a computer ban once e-textbooks are the norm.
I did have a teacher in high school who sometimes would have us read silently in class rather that prepare a lecture. Also, in college, I took a course that had "open-book" exams. I'd be happy to see both of those lazy practices die.
12
16 GB iPads wont hold much. Sure theres iCloud, but you shoudlnt be forced to have a WiFi connection just to read a book.
13
Look, I don't much enjoy the e-book experience either, and I don't own an iPad or Kindle or Nook. But come back in 10-15 years and tell me that I'm wrong.
(And by the way, I don't ever remember lugging textbooks to college lectures... though to be fair, I was a history major, so apart from a few introductory science classes, I didn't have many textbooks.)
15
iPads might not be the answer, but a dedicated e-reader would be an improvement. However, I don't see publishers giving huge price breaks simply for moving away from physical books, especially if those eventually become their primary offerings.
16
And as a student who gets crippling migraines from e-reading too much, I fear the transition to all e-books all the time. That'll be the end of my academic career!
Yeah, I think it is a little unusual. I don't know anyone with two homes.
19
"if not better--represented on an LCD screen". Not. E-textbooks have a powerful tendency to look like shit. If you're using a Kindle, unusably so. In fact, some observers think e-readers are worse devices for textbooks than for any other kind of book -- things with lots of charts and stuff, and with a strong need for usable notes, bibliography, and index, and maybe other features that suck on e-books, like glossaries and stuff.
E-book navigation is spectacularly awful compared to the ability to stick bookmarks or post-its in a real book, to flip back to that map, or that highlighted section.
The last textbook I bought, for second-year Spanish six months ago, cost a whopping THREE HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS, or a mere $175 unbound with three-ring-binder punches. Couldn't believe it. But the e-version wouldn't have been tempting, even at $15.
20
I wish we had this when I was in school, if not for anything but the WEIGHT of a backpack! I only weighed like 90 pounds in school, it was work carrying those bastards around all day!
I wouldn't want to use a tablet, but would prefer a MacBook Pro.
23
24
As a current full time student, I would LOVE to be able to have all my books on an iPad. And furthermore, I have only had a few professors that didn't allow computers in class. Also, with the iPad textbooks, I don't believe you need internet except to download.
Watch the video before hating on Goldy.
http://www.apple.com/education/#video-te…
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